Wednesday, August 22, 2018

A really special Walt Disney story

Everyone
knows who Walt Disney is. He will live on through his movies,
characters and theme parks. Some of Walt Disney’s most loved characters
are Mickey Mouse and
Donald Duck. I loved going to Walt Disney World when I was a child and
now I enjoy taking Noah. I remember being so excited when a new Disney
movie would come out. I love sharing the movies with Noah.

Walt
Disney has been producing movies for many years. You know you will get a
quality family film when it’s Disney. His
movies are timeless and have been enchanting for generations. Walt
Disney is the creator of Mickey Mouse, who is the most recognized
character of all time.

But how did Walt Disney come to know and treasure the figures from Wendt & Kühn?It’s well known that he was a passionate collector of curios, especially miniatures. He
brought back many souvenirs from his travels. He and his wife went
shopping, seeking out unique little things that
pleased them. He looked for things that he thought his daughters would
like to have. Walt Disney was obviously fascinated by the little wooden
figurines from the distant land of Germany, from the Wendt & Kuehn
workshops in Grünhainichen.

His
wife Lilian, knowing Walt’s love of Wendt & Kühn figures, had
started the tradition. It started when Diane was a
baby by presenting Walt with a Wendt & Kühn figure as a Christmas
gift from his brand-new daughter. Over the years Diane continued this
tradition as an expression of their special father-daughter bond.

At
the personal request of Diane Disney Miller, Wendt & Kuehn
figurines are on sale in the souvenir shop at the Walt
Disney Family Museum in San Francisco still today. Diane is able to
share wonderful childhood memories of her famous father. When Diane
decided to carry the figures in the new museum store, she did it in the
hope that visitors would be just as delighted and
enchanted by them as her father was.

Now we know that the figurines of Wendt & Kuehn played a role in Walt’s life.The
figurines you see here are all the same as Walt Disney’s collection of
Wendt & Kuehn-articles. In the archives of the Walt Disney company
there are many old pictures in which
the figures of Wendt & Kühn can be clearly seen in the Disney
office.

The
enthusiasm of Disney brought Wendt & Kuehn 2014 even a supporting
role in the movie “Saving Mr. Banks“ starring Tom
Hanks. The movie is the story of how Walt used personal charm and skill
to persuade the author of Mary Poppins to let him turn her famous
children‘s book into a movie.

As
Walt Disney once said, “My business is making people, especially
children, happy“- Grete Wendt, the founder of Wendt
& Kuehn, would certainly have agreed with him. You can find more
interesting information about Walt Disney and exclusive pictures of the
Walt Disney archives in the
elevendotpost
on page 12/13 (US version):
https://www.wendt-kuehn.com/service/eleven-dot-post/